Day to day musings of a cat minder/ sitter in North Tyneside and Newcastle upon Tyne . For details of services go to http://www.catminders.biz

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Thursday 20 March 2008

A Rat in the Bedroom .

I head for the bathroom at three am and round the far side of the bed I encounter a big grey thing .
A rat , next to the bed , sitting hunched as rats do . I stop dead in my tracks , as you do , and stare . Silence . Then I hear the rain lashing and the wind . I glance round , noting the presence of at least two large cats , asleep. I consider leaping back onto the bed but the consequent mayhem would stop D in his tracks , possibly .
The water bed does not take kindly to being jumped on . In the early morning light as I stare at the hunched sight I realise it is in fact not a rat at all , but a Guinea Pig . Of course ! Why would a rat be in our bedroom ?
A grey guinea pig , ( the one we call Hedgehog in fact , and house in the kitchen directly below , has clearly made her way upstairs in search of breakfast greens ) and is now resting and planning her day quietly near the Victorian fireplace ?

I feel oddly chilled by this large rat/ guinea pig and decidely reluctant to step over and around it , which I have to do to get to the door . I still need the bathroom . I am feeling the urge to run as there is something not quite right about this and I have a vague primal gnawing fear that the creature will turn and run at me and wind up inside my pyjama leg ( echoes of Dad here and the incident involving the mouse brought in by the cat circa 1968 , Stamfordham , one Saturday night after Supper, though I am sure it was his trousers rather than his nightwear which were invaded , to our glee ) .
I glance again at the bed . D and the cats breathe heavily on .
Suddenly , and without warning , the rat hunches and moves , wriggling in sickening fashion across the carpet . I am wide eyed but immobile , as it moves thankfully across my line of vision rather than closer to me . As it moves , it is joined at its right extremity by a large beige Birman cat , stretching and yawning . The rat was her bunched up tail , her body concealed by the overhang of the duvet .
I head for the bathroom my heart pounding .
For the record , I didn't wet myself .

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Arr Hedgehog only wanted to say mornin 2 his mom!
Have a lvly easter, bj mate coming tommorow for a week, fli came to visit last nite, he was a poppet!! have took sum fotos of him and will send 1 wen I can (just excuse all the legs we had friends around, as 1 of our friends are moving to devon tommorow)keep warm!!
Joan

BetteJo said...

Oh I might have wet myself, pet or no. I'm not afraid of mice but a guinea pig IS more the size of a rat. Yuk!
But then - I would have had to consider the plight of the guinea pig because knowing my cats - they would have tortured the poor thing and it might have died of fright.

MsCatMinder said...

hello both ... It IS clear isnt it , from my post , that there was no rat , or guinea pig in the bedroom , but just the cats tail looking like something else in the dark .... ! ! I suspect if the cat had brought the pig up she might have been in smaller pieces .....

happy easter hope you both have some holidays x

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